OBSERVATIONS. 



liver offers up a new and interesting field in connection 

 with the distribution and treatment of cancer, hydatid, 

 and sepsis. 



From a study of comparative anatomy, we see 

 how the human liver and spleen acquire their shape. The 

 question naturally arises : if the liver cells perform mul- 

 tiple functions, are the functional activities different in 

 different portions of the organ? This would be best 

 studied in the more primitive multilobed livers, like those 

 of the Marsupials and Monotremes. And, similarly, in 

 connection with the spleen, for it must be remembered that 

 human spleens are often met with in which the body and 

 right and left processes are all separately defined. To 

 know the sequence of acquisition of function of liver cells 

 is essential to a proper classification of diseases of the 

 organ, for loss of one or more, not necessarily all, the 

 functions of a cell must be surely as characteristic of 

 hepatic disease as it is in connection with loss of function 

 of a muscle. 



Determining shape we must remember the following 

 factors : — 



(1) Adaptation to surrounding structures. 



(2) Influence of respiration. 



(3) The orthograde posture. 



(-t) Relation of the heart to the diaphragm. 



The left hepatic lobe is well developed in the Mono- 

 tremes and Marsupials, but the heart is not related to 

 the diaphragm as in the case of Man and the Anthropoids, 

 since, with the exception of the Koala, the azygos lobe 

 from the right lung intervenes. Attention has frequently 

 been directed to the primitive type of the liver of the 

 Gorilla — the most orthograde of the Anthropoids. More 

 interesting, however, is the fact that members of the 



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